Category: Transportation

Lufthansa one-day sale.

If you’re feeling good about your finances, there are some deals out there for spontaneous travelers.

Lufthansa is having a one-day sale on October 22, 2008.  Details are unavailable, but the last one-day sale, which took place on October 1, 2008, offered fares as low as $257 each way for winter/spring travel from the U.S. to Europe.  
Read complete post
Posted by Virginia Saunders on 10/21/2008 at 12:47 AM | Categories: Transportation - Europe -

Roundtrip from LAX to Sydney for as low as $760.

The Airbus A380 represents the biggest aviation advance in decades. The biggest, most technologically sophisticated plane in the air, the A380 offers unprecedented comfort and amenities including live Internet access in every class of service.

Because it burns 17% less fuel per seat than other aircraft, it's ideal for long-haul flights. And Qantas begins their North America schedule this week -- the first Qantas A380 arrives from Melbourne at LAX tomorrow.


Read complete post
Posted by Virginia Saunders on 10/19/2008 at 11:58 PM | Categories: Transportation - Australia/New Zealand -

LAX nonstops redirected.

The last several times we’ve flown connecting flights to Europe, it hasn’t been a great experience.  Last year, we flew Delta to JFK where we were supposed to connect to another Delta flight to Rome.  

We arrived 50 minutes late, despite having a tail wind that was supposed to save us an hour.  When we arrived, we asked the agent at the gate which flight our connection left from and she said she had no idea because the flight was “closed.”  We told her to figure out the gate, call them, and tell them we were on our way.  

We sprinted to the gate listed on our boarding pass – which was printed at LAX nine hours before – and made it by the skin of our teeth, though our bags didn’t catch up to us for nearly a week.
Read complete post
Posted by Virginia Saunders on 08/22/2008 at 1:56 AM | Categories: Transportation -

Getting to Southampton.

If you're taking a Northern European cruise this summer, chances are you'll be leaving from Southampton, a pleasant-enough port city 75 miles from London on England's southeast coast. Southampton has a great cruising history -- the Titanic sailed from here -- and today, it's the U.K.'s leading cruise port.

Your cruise line will be happy to transfer you to the ship. And if you arrange your air or hotel through them, the transfer will be included -- for a price. But you'll overpay for the convenience, the hotel will be large and impersonal, and you'll be herded around in a group. Unless you pay for a private transfer, which will be several times the going rate.


Read complete post
Posted by Virginia Saunders on 07/06/2008 at 9:49 PM | Categories: Transportation - Great Britain -

Carry-on Bags that aren't.

When we went to Great Britain recently, we decided that we didn't want to check our bags. So we limited ourselves to our American carry-on sized bags -- one Calvin Klein and one Swiss Army. Both bags are 22" x 9" x 14". They expand, but like good little soldiers, we kept them all zipped up.

Before heading out, we checked the British Airways website, which says that you can carry on bags that are 22" x 17.5" x 9.85" -- not exactly the same size, but technically bigger than the American allowance.

To save time, we checked in online, and then headed to British Airways check-in to have our documents verified before going through security. We queued up and were promptly directed to the line for people wishing to check baggage. "No, no," we said. "We're carrying on our bags." "Not those bags," was the reply.


Read complete post
Posted by Virginia Saunders on 07/02/2008 at 10:58 PM | Categories: Opinion - Transportation -